Sheila Dikshit as UP CM face: 5 reasons why Congress has aced it

Sheila Dikshit as the Congress' CM face is bad news for the BJP. Upper Castes are the BJP's core vote base. Dikshit is a Brahmin and Uttar Pradesh is her sasural. By nominating her, the Congress is trying to woo back its traditional Brahmin vote bank.

BJP has so far played the Rajput card through Rajnath Singh and OBC card by making Keshav Maurya the UP unit chief. Brahmins, it seems, were taken for granted.

The community isn't very happy with the BJP. They believe the party hasn't given them the space they deserve. Even when in power, the BJP chose an OBC (Kalyan Singh), a Rajput (Rajnath Singh) and a bania (Ramprakash Gupta) as its CMs in UP.

UP hasn't seen a Brahmin CM since ND Tiwari's term in 1988-89. This has hurt the community and Sheila;s nomination could lead to a shift of some votes from BJP to the Congress.

Sheila Dikshit had a good tenure as the chief minister of Delhi. Those who have lived in the city, bear testimony to the work that was done during her rule. It is for this reason that the people of Delhi gave her three terms as CM.

Despite the corruption charges against her, she has the image of a leader who gets work done. Congress will showcase this to the hilt, especially with strategist Prashant Kishor handling the campaign.

As far as the corruption charges are concerned, Congress is already handling it by going on the offensive.

"There are charges against sitting CMs of BJP ruled states including Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh. There should be inquiries into those cases," Azad said

And with BSP and SP also seen as corrupt, the charges against Dikshit might not be an issue in UP.

Being a woman is another plus point. Other than BSP supremo Mayawati, no other party has given women such a prominent position in UP. Dimple Yadav of SP and Smriti Irani of the BJP are campaigners but they are not going to be the main face of the party.

In Bihar, women played a key role in Nitish Kumar's victory. Dikshit, who is a 'bahu' of UP', has the potential of connecting to the women in the state.

In fact, from Sonia Gandhi to Sheila Dikshit, women seem to call the shots in the Congress, unlike the SP and BJP.

With just 28 seats in the Assembly and 2 MPs from Uttar Pradesh, the Congress has nothing to lose in the state. The party is only likely to better its performance. Even if Dikshit doesn't succeed, the loss would be her's and not the party's.

Even for Dikshit, this comeback has come as a bonus as her career was all but over with her ignominious defeat in Delhi in 2013. Her willingness to take up a challenge at this age would endear her to the Gandhi family a great deal.

The only loser in the eventuality of an electoral debacle in UP would be Prashant Kishor.

Sheila Dikshit is not among those who would create trouble for the party after the polls. She will go with the line given by the top leadership and not try to bargain or rebel. Her stature is bigger than most leaders of the party in the state. This will also help her control in the UP Congress.

The biggest thing Sheila would do is to dent the BJP's calculations. This means that even if Congress doesn't achieve much, the BJP going to lose significantly due to her presence and role.

However, the announcement of Dikshit's candidature means that a pre-poll alliance with BSP or SP is ruled out. But a good performance could open up the possibility of a post poll alliance.